Timor-Leste most tax competitive country in Portuguese-speaking world

November 24th, 2014  

 

http://www.macauhub.com.mo/en/2014/11/24/timor-leste-most-tax-competitive-country-in-portuguese-speaking-world/

 

Timor-Leste (East Timor) is the highest rated among the Portuguese-speaking countries in the list of most competitive nations in the world in terms of tax burden, according to the “Paying Taxes 2015″ study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, published recently.

The study puts Timor-Leste in 55th place, ahead of Portugal in 64th and at a great distance from the other Portuguese-speaking countries – Angola (144th), Brazil (177th), Cabo Verde (91st), Guinea-Bissau ( 150th) Mozambique (123rd) and Sao Tome and Principe.

This list is drawn up based on a set of indicators such as the tax burden for businesses, the number of hours spent dealing with tax issues and the number of annual payments.

In the case of Timor-Leste, the tax applied to companies is at a rate of 11 percent, the number of hours needed to deal with tax matters is 276 and the number of annual payments is 18.

In the case of Portugal the corporate tax burden is 42.4 percent, the number of hours is 275 and the number of payments is only eight.

This study by PricewaterhouseCoopers comparing the tax burden of 189 world economies and drawn up in cooperation with the World Bank, shows that on average companies make eight annual tax payments (a number that has remained constant) and spend 275 hours dealing with tax matters. (macauhub/AO/BR/CV/GW/MZ/PT/ST/TL)

“Juíz Timor oan hetan ameasa” – sé lós mak bosok iha ne’e?

*Cosme da Costa Araujo

 Foin lalais ne’e, mídia internasional, liu-liu sira ne’ebé iha Portugal, no “copy paste” tutan husi mídia lokal balun no naklekar makás lós iha mídia sosial hanesan Facebook, hateten “juiz Timor oan sira hetan ameasa”. 

 

Notísia surpresa ida ne’e mosu, hafoin prokuradora portuguêsa, Sra Glória Alves, ne’ebé hetan espulsaun iha semana hirak liuba, hateten ba Lusa katak nia hetan email ida husi nia kolega juíz Timor oan ida ne’ebé hateten ba nia katak “sira nia moris iha perigu” nia laran. Prokuradora ne’e akresenta katak iha email ne’e juíz timor oan sira husu atu nia kolegas juíz portuguêsa sira husu tulun ba komunidade internasional hodi tulun sira nia siguransa no moris. 

 

Iha loron 12 Novembru, koinsidente ho komemorasaun loron Masakre Santa Krus, Micael Pereira no Rui Gustavo relata ba jornal Expresso no nia versaun Inglês distribuidu mos iha ETAN, hateten katak “juiz Guilermino da Silva, Presidente Tribunal Rekursu no SCM, telefone ba Antonio Piçarra, vice presidente CSM Portugal nian hodi husu ajuda ba situsaun ne’ebé juíz timor oan sira hasoru”. Jornalista nain-rua ne’e mos hatutan tan katak “juiz Guilermino da Silva xave-an iha kuartu ida ho nia kolega nain rua tamba tauk lakon sira nia moris”. 

 

Iha loron tuir mai dia 13 Novembru, mídia barak inklui mos SAPO TL hatoo fali notísia kontradiktória ida mezmu husi fontes de informação hanesan. Ba Lusa juíz Guilhermino rasik desmente notísia ida ne’e. Nia rasik dehan “desconhese” ameasas ba juíz sira. Nia hatutan tan “hau la hatene konaba ida ne’e. To’o agora hau seidauk direitamente haré ameasa ne’e”. 

 

Hafoin mídia lokal sira mos buka tuir no konfirma rasik ho Presidente Tribunal Dili, Sr. Duarte Tilman, iha ne’ebé nia desmente notísia ne’e no konsidera hanesan “rumoris”.

 

Pergunta maka ne’e, sé lós maka la koalia lia-lós iha ne’e, alias bosok.

 

Iha senáriu rua, primeiru - fontes de informação, juíz sira maka bosok ou sigundu – ida ne’ebé fo sai informasaun ou rumoris ne’e uluk maka bosok. 

 

Integridade no kredibilidade husi juíz Guilermino no nia kolegas sira “é uma questão inquestionável”. Katak imposível ba juíz sira ne’e atu ohin koalia buat ida no aban koalia buat seluk. Ba ema sira ne’e, ne’ebé okupa fatin importante iha nasaun ida ne’e hodi tesi lia-lós, laiha dúvida katak ema hirak ne’e koalia deit maka lia-lós. 

 

Se nune’e lia-lós maka ne’e, ida ne’ebé fo sai notísia ne’e maka la koalia lia-lós alias bosok. Notísia kona ba “juíz Timor oan hetan ameasa” ne’e laiha faktus no meramente “rumoris” ida, ne’ebé mídia sira ejajera. Ita lamenta tebes ho hahalok Sra. Prokuradora nian ne’ebé la koalia lia-lós no mos hahalok mídia sira nian ne’ebé tolan tomak Sra. Prokuradora nia sokar-lia, seim halo konfirmasaun direita ho fontes de informação orijinal.

 

Ita kompriende katak ema idak-idak iha reasaun oin-oin ba insidente espulsaun juíz internasional sira foin lalais ne’e. Buat ita husu maka ne’e “para reduzir um bacandinho de emoção quando se expressam”.

 

“Timorese judges’ life under threat” – who is not telling the truth here

*Cosme da Costa Araujo

 It was widely reported by international media, especially by those in Portugal and “copied pasted” by few local media and went viral on social media that “Timorese judges’ life was under threat”.

 

The shocking news came out after the then sacked Portuguese magistrate Glória Alves told Lusa that she got an email from her colleague in Dili saying “their lives are in grave danger”. She further added that “they asked their Portuguese counterparts to appeal to the International Community for help”.

 

Coincided with the commemoration of Santa Cruz massacre, Micael Pereira and Rui Gustavo reported for Expresso and its English version was posted in ETAN saying that “Guilhermino da Silva, the President of the Court of Appeal, and Timorese CSM, made a call to Antonio Piçarra, vice president of Portuguese SCM, ask for help against dramatic situation in the past hour confronting Timorese judges”. Both added that “Guilhermino da Silva locked himself in a house with the two other judges because they fear for their lives”.

 

Next day, various news media including SAPO Timor-Leste, quoted Lusa, reported a contradictory version from the very same source. In Portuguese version, the news reads that “Presidente do Conselho Superior de Magistratura de Timor-Leste DESCONHECE ameaças a juízes”.

 

Thanks to Google Translation, the statement can be roughly translated into English as “the President of CSM does not know any threat against the judges”. He further elaborated that “I am not aware of it. So far, not directly seen this threat”.

 

Local media followed up on this issue with Sr. Duarte Tilman, President of Dili Court and he denied that such thing happened and he called it a mere “rumor”.

 

The question now is who is not telling the truth here. It is either “the source of information” or “the one who report it” in the first place.

 

The integrity and credibility of the source of the information is unquestionable and therefore it is highly unlikely that Judge Guilhermino da Silva and his colleagues would one day say one thing and another day say something else. These people who hold such important positions in the country speak only the truth.

 

We are then left with one and the only truth, which is the one who reported it in the first place did not tell the truth. Therefore, the news about “Timorese judges’ life under threat” is unfounded and it is a mere rumor that is overly exaggerated by the media.  It is gravely regretted that such a reputable magistrate could tell such a deplorable lie and regurgitated by media without confirming with the sources.

 

A good friend of mine once told me that apart from coffee, the next big commodity Timorese can export is gossiping. Sadly, this incident tells me that the Timorese no longer have that competitive advantage, as people in other countries are also good at it.

 

It is understandable that everyone has different reaction to the recent sacking of international judges, but what we ask is “to reduce a bit of emotion when expressing them”.